CAFCASS

[Mother145966]

hi im looking for advice on cafcass, and peoples experiences of them from a parents point of view from being in an abusive relationship

backtrack to a few months ago and dating back over a year or so my daughter has constantly raised concerns over her dad hitting her, brusing her, and scaring her, raised these concerns with a solicitor to which they advised me to cease contact, as they were concerned about emotional abuse and physical abuse, so that i did and he was told to take me back to court to reinstate contact.

fast forward to court, and Cafcass involvement at first i felt heard and my concerns validated, provided consistent patterns of abuse, timelines etc, he provided nothing even though “he claims domestic abuse on my behalf” because of one altercation between us after our relationship ended which was reactive abuse after years of abuse at the hands of the man, but because he had me arrested for that one altercation you can imagine it didnt look good on me even though i admitted it and reaped the repercussions, and as you can imagine this man will forever and more ring authorities, to prove he is an innocent figure when he isnt, hes been reported loads for abuse and never once been dragged in.

anyway i got my cafcass report today and wow, i have some how been made to look the issue, all concerns my daughter has had have been dismissed because when she was questioned (shes 4) she said she did feel safe at her dads and she even told the cafcass worker a whole fabricated story i must admit i laughed at, but we all know thats not how abuse works, his new partner has even been questioned on if “hes abusive” now im no expert but since when do you question current partners on abuse? She could be being beat! Of course she isnt going to admit that, he has also provided character statements and not once have i been asked to provide this from my family and friends to prove what i said about this man? It has also said in the statement that i have only ever been abused by this man, not anyone else, and “positively isnt a pattern of behaviour” which i know to be a lie! They have also recommended a parenting course for us, which i will not be doing as why would i with the man who abused me

so my question is has anyone else had this happen?! How do i fight it, why do these abusers win all the time!!

from a frustrated mam, who has always done right by her kid, always maintained contact apart from this, and give him everything for our daughter

I was in a different situation but also found Cafcass disbelieved me reporting what my young child had said, and were quick to dismiss everything as tit for tat. It felt like it’s been pre-decided that fathers can have 50/50 contact, unless they’re pretty much convicted murderers, who can probably still have contact just not 50/50. There seems no option that what is best for the child could be anything but maximum contact with father. Things reported to authorities or coming from organisations seem to count for more than what parents have to say. They seem to assume all parents lie and small children say whatever makes the nearest parent happy. I had the opposite experience re the course though, I hoped it might help but they wouldn’t offer it because he’d fabricated that I was abusive to him.
Anyway this is a sympathy vent based on just one experience that had an outcome I didn’t want, but you probably need legal advice and possibly women’s aid. There are whole FB groups devoted to hating Cafcass but there seems little that can be done once their report finds against you.
The whole family court experience was a shock to me, brutal, disfunctional and a traumatic experience. They all seem too burnt out to care- Cafcass, judges, the lot. I’m sorry you’re going through it.

I’d start by following their recommendation to complete the parenting course - they’re not done together.

why wasn’t the alleged physical abuse reported to the police?

You can contact the Cafcass officer and advise them of any factual errors.

Cafcass are corrupt ime.. Lengthy 4 year case.. The senior Cafcass officer on the stand admitted his entire report was based on 'facts' he got from my exh...
He even told exh details he absolutely shouldn't have.

Theyd also been welfare checks done on his mam to while my daughter was in her care as the next door neighbour “thought she was been murdered” so police are aware of situations and also cafcass are, police wont do anything nor social services had i raised it, whole system seems broken, your damned if you do and damned if you dont

Well it seems this is my case!! Character references from his ex’s mam and dad stating he never abused there daughter even though i know he did, never asked once for evidence off me, although you better believe i am now, i have folders full that will be took to next court hearing!

I luckily have a solicitor, and have my teams meeting with her next week to discuss outcome of report, you better believe I am contesting this till the end. And ill die trying to make sure my daughter is protected, they are wanting to implement 3 days again, every 2 weeks! Ive been heartbroken since reading it, and just know he will be revelling in the fact hes been made out to be a saint! It kills me. Made out like my abuse never existed and im the only one who deserved his abuse, soul shattering and dismissive! 🥴

in so sorry you went through this to, its utterly heartbreaking! 💔

Agree with this - having just been through the process, I have had a formal apology from Cafcass in respect to the entire process - the other party being given information that wasn't shared with me, officers leaving the service and failing to inform me. One had the gall to say, well I was going to get in touch "but I had a holiday coming up so it wasn't priority." £15k in legal fees later, the judge completely dismissed evey recommendation in their report (based on lies from the other party) and I will be taking this up with the ombudsman as it is simply not good enough.

I didn’t know there was an ombudsman or any route to complain. I may look into this.